
Is Nicotine Really Harmful?
Have you ever seen a fresh tobacco leaf (pictured above)? Most people haven’t but surprisingly 90% of the public regard nicotine itself as harmful. It’s public knowledge that smoking and vaping is bad for you and can cause cancer, leading to death.
While pretty much anything is harmful when smoked, or consumed in high doses, surprisingly, it’s not the nicotine itself that’s the problem.
Nicotine in small doses is actually a non-addictive beneficial herb from the nightshade plant family.

Smoking or Vaping is Bad
So what’s so bad about smoking or vaping? To be clear, smoking or vaping is bad for you.
Cigarettes and vape products contain dried and concentrated, highly processed tobacco in addition to pesticides, arsnic, tar, sugars, and other ingredients that enhance their addictive qualities, injure the lungs, and increase carcinogenic effects.
Smoking itself changes these substances to make them more carcinogenic, as does the heating and chemicals required for vaping. You should be able to look at a food and be able to at least have an idea what is in it prior to consumption. Tobacco in the form of cigarettes and vape is completely unrecognizable.
Cigarette and vape products are processed and formulated specifically to be more addicting to increase profits; and unfortunately, this has also unnecessarily vilified tobacco.
Nicotinic Receptors
We have nicotinic receptors, or receptors for nicotine, all throughout the body in our muscles and brain, indicating that nicotine is something that our body uses. Nicotine causes neoangiogenesis (the making of new blood cells), cell division, proliferation, and affects both neural (having to do with the brain or nerves) and non-neural cells. Nicotine can stimulate dopamine and thyroid hormones that we need, but too much nicotine can put things out of balance, leading to dependence and addiction.
While nicotine used in large amounts can become addictive, the reason why may not be what you think. Nicotine increases dopamine, used for motivation and focus, and thyroid hormone used for energy and lowers thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) so researchers believe that nicotine “withdrawals” are actually a combination of thyroid hormone and dopamine withdrawals and not actually from the nicotine itself. This is suspiciously similar to the negative symptoms that can come from different types of nutrient deficiencies. Dopamine withdrawal, if big enough, is a key component in the addiction cylcle from any substance ranging from drugs and porn, to sugar etc. So the key, as always, is not to over do it.
Indigenous peoples have long used tobacco both medicinally and in religion.
Modern tobacco-nicotine studies have shown benefits like reduced joint pain, thyroid stimulation, and mild appetite suppression, validating it’s natural medicinal properties.

Nicotine Containing Foods
While tobacco is the highest nicotine containing plant, foods like eggplant and potatoes also have surprising amounts of nicotine in them and there are trace amounts of nicotine in many other fruits and vegetables like tea, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, tomatoes, nuts, carrots, spinach, bananas, blueberries and many more. These fruits and vegetables are well known for having multiple health benefits.
Clearly there would not be so many nicotinic receptors, or so many sources if nicotine were not a nutrient, but just like many other foods, when highly processed and concentrated, they can become detrimental to our health.
Take beet sugar for example. No one can say they had a serving of vegetables because they had a candy bar made with sugar from a beet. Most people wouldn’t even know sugar can come from a beet.
So it’s about having smaller, organic, and less processed amounts of any food, including the tobacco herb.
So, how much nicotine?
Nicotine can be a powerful compound and should be respected just as a medicine should be. How much nicotine will depend on a persons weight, their health condition, and the source of nicotine. Because of the intensity of nicotine, it is not recommended to purposely give extra to children beyond what is in a normal healthy diet.
If you are going to use nicotine beyond what is in healthy, organic fruits and vegetables, do not smoke it. A dried orgainc tobacco tea, or a dermal patch containing minimal additives are examples of non-smoking applications. It should also be in a form that is as clean as possible (i.e. organic, pesticide free). It is considered safe for adults to have 1 to 5 mg/kg of body weight (aka 0.22 to 1.1 mg/pound of body weight) per day.
Keep in mind, if you are a sensitive individual and don’t want to be a slave to nicotine, a lower and/or infrequent dose is better. What may be considered an indigenous “medicinal” dose, for example, may be as low as 0.15 mg/kg of body weight (aka 0.07 mg/pound of body weight) depending on the purpose and the sensitivity of the individual.
References
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/nicotine-oral-route-oromucosal-route/proper-use/drg-20122519
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3880486/
- https://www.medicalrecords.com/blog/how-much-nicotine-is-safe
- https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/nicotine-poisoning-can-you-overdose
- https://examine.com/supplements/nicotine/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10572882/
- https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/nicotine–no-more-harmful-to-health-than-caffeine-.html